"I've been very happy just to see the discussion about women's health expanded, and that means the world to me," Jolie told the BBC at the world premiere of Brad Pitt's new thriller, "World War Z," in London. "After losing my mom to these issues, I'm very grateful for it."
Jolie, 37, revealed in a New York Times op-ed on May 14 that she had undergone a preventative double mastectomy after discovering she carries the BRCA1 gene, which increases the risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer.
"My doctors estimated that I had an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer, although the risk is different in each woman," she wrote in a New York Times op-ed. "Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much as I could."
Jolie's mother Marcheline Bertrand died from ovarian cancer at 56, and the actress's aunt died of breast cancer last month, The Associated Press reported.
While the couple walked together at the distinctive black carpet at the premiere, Pitt choked up when asked about Jolie's decision to go through the preventative procedures.
"I get a little emotional about it, because of just the act itself, what she did for our family, and then telling her story to others," he told the BBC. "What it means to others has really surprised me.
"It was a very moving experience, it certainly brought our family tighter together," Pitt said. "It's just the bravest thing to me."
Of Pitt, Jolie said his support had been nothing less than "extraordinary."
"He's such a wonderful man and a wonderful father and I'm very, very lucky," she said at the premiere.
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